On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine: Notre Dame leads for Sam Pendleton

Pfafftown (N.C.) Reagan offensive lineman Sam Pendleton had been considered a Clemson lean for much of his recruitment during the past year. His hometown is only a little more than three hours from campus, and the Tigers had made him a priority on the offensive line.

But things began to shift in March when Notre Dame came into the picture. The Fighting Irish extended an offer on March 16 and got him on campus three weeks later. Ahead of his commitment tonight, all signs point toward the Irish adding to their loaded 2023 recruiting class.

According to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM), Notre Dame has a 94.2 percent chance of securing Pendleton’s commitment. No other program is above 1.7 percent.

The On3 RPM was released to the public in December. The On3 engineering group teamed up with Spiny.ai to create the industry’s first algorithm and machine learning-based product to predict where athletes will attend college.

It factors in machine learning, social sentiment, visits and historical trends. Expert predictions are also a big piece of the RPM equation.

Multiple expert predictions in for Sam Pendleton

In the last week alone, Notre Dame has received four expert predictions in its favor, including one from BlueandGold.com recruiting insider Mike Singer.

“The RPM accurately represents where Notre Dame stands for the four-star prospect heading into his decision tonight, at least in my opinion,” Singer said. “He’s visited seven schools more than once and has only been to South Bend on one occasion. But his trip to Notre Dame’s campus earlier this month was a highly impactful one. This would be a big get for the Irish over rival Michigan.”

Joining Singer in his Notre Dame prediction are Ryan Snyder (BlueWhiteIllustrated), EJ Holland (TheWolverine.com) and Corey Bender (GatorsOnline).

Should Pendleton pledge to the Irish, he would become their 10th commitment in the 2023 class, joining a group headlined by five-star EDGE Keon Keeley.